HORSESHOE COMPENDIUM

Horseshoe pitching is one of the oldest sports in the world, but it has only in the last decade reached its present scientific status. The popularity of horseshoe pitching is increasing by leaps and bounds and every season finds new stars rising in all parts of the country. The increased interest in this sport naturally demands expert instruction, and, while many experts can and do give oral lessons and demonstrations, very few have attempted to set forth their instructions in written form. This dearth of written instruction is a handicap to correct development of players, and it must eventually come to pass that more written material will put in its appearance.
Foreseeing this ultimate demand we have compounded this work, believing it may be the forerunner to many greater ones. Our earnest desire to aid the game of horseshoe pitching to prosper through putting the beginner on the right track from the start is our only aim in this work.
In this treatise, we have attempted to set down the various problems which confront the beginner from the very start, and to point out to him the correct way to do everything which must be done before he can become a full-fledged player. We have taken these problems one by one in their logical sequence and have tried to explain each one in the most common-sense manner possible, and have progressed through the various items necessary in their chronological order.
With the hope that our suggestions will be received in the same spirit as given, we present the following treatise for the special edification of beginners in the great American game of horseshoe pitching.

THE HORSESHOE COURT

We shall assume in writing this that you, the student, have not yet acquired any knowledge of how to pitch-that you are a beginner who has had little or no experience in tossing the "Dobbin Slippers." Working under this assumption, we shall have to begin at the very beginning and attempt to show you the right way to do everything, and to try to explain to you the reason why.
The first necessary item to a horseshoe player is a proper pitching court. You may believe that since you are a rank beginner you can start your practise on any old pair of stakes driven into the ground, but this idea is as wrong as is an idea that a baseball team should practise in a forest.